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Money-Saving Apps for Black Friday

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Black Friday comes once a year and for most of us, once is enough. The sleep-sucking mega shopping day has morphed into a major shopping weekend. With the growing popularity of Cyber Monday, and brick-and-mortar retailers clamoring for a piece of the pie by offering deals all weekend, it has turned into a four day shopping extravaganza.

For those of you who plan to leave your Thanksgiving parties early to hit the stores at midnight, or maybe wake-up at the crack of dawn with a turkey hangover, you know how packed the stores can be with shoppers, but the deals make it worthwhile.

To make your shopping trip as efficient and hassle-free as possible, use these apps to find the items you're looking for and additional deals in the stores you visit. Compare prices to the same products online and purchase presents from your smartphone if you can't find them in-store.

But not everyone thinks Cyber Monday and digital shopping will replace the Black Friday event. Adam Hanft, CEO of marketing firm Hanft Projects tells Mashable he thinks the spectacle of Black Friday won't be replaced with digital shopping, but apps will become part of the shopping event.

“There's no doubt that Black Friday apps will be quickly adopted by many consumers. But I don't foresee Black App-day replacing Black Friday anytime soon," he said. "Black Friday has always been as much about the social aspect, the participation in a national event (and competition) as much as it has been about getting the lowest price. It's about scoring a victory. If consumers were just human price comparison engines, they would wait till the season limps on a bit and pick off the best prices as they appear. But everything behavioral psychology tells us is that human beings are not rational economic actors.”

Will you shop on Black Friday and will you shop in-store, in-app or both? Tell us in the comments.

Black Friday Apps

Black Friday Deal Finder by FatWallet

Brent Shelton, media relations director at FatWallet, tells Mashable the Black Friday Deal Finder app "allows people to customize the way they'd shop versus being told how they should shop."

The app allows you to search by store, price and item. You can also scan an advertisement to find your item. There are about 100 stores to shop from within the app. And the items in the app are interactive, so you can click on the deal and see it up close and read more about it.

"We're expecting more than 20,000 deals to show up in here," he tells Mashable.

If you download the app now, you'll be able to find deals. They're aren't technically Black Friday deals -- you'll see those populate on the app on Thanksgiving and continue through Cyber Monday. But stores have been posting deals earlier and earlier each year, so you might find some bargains even before the power-shopping weekend. One of the most popular features is the "Most Popular Items" tab that shows which items the masses are favoring.

TheFind

TheFind lets you scan products and find the cheapest price near you and compares that to prices online. The app also lets you search by deals in your vicinity and will alert you to free shipping deals. The app syncs with the website, so you can also shop from your laptop or tablet at home.

RedLaser

You can keep up with up-to-the-minute deals using eBay’s RedLaser app. Just scan barcodes of products you're shopping for and the app will show you the best deals on eBay and other sites. The app saves your history so you can see the items you've recently viewed. Use the search feature to find exactly what you're looking for or view the home screen to see what other users are scanning the most often.

GiftsHD

Gifts HD is a mobile app for iOS that helps you keep track of who you've bought gifts for already. And it's for more than just one user - everyone in your family with a smartphone can see what items have already been purchased for a particular recipient. You can also add a budget for each person and tally how close you are to reaching that goal as you purchase gifts. The app costs $4.99.

Black Friday app by dealnews.com

Black Friday by dealnews.com has a countdown till Black Friday on the main screen, in case you forget how many days are left until the year's shopping extravaganza. You can shop in-app from a number of stores like Cabela's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Pacsun, Guitar Center and Stein Mart, plus big-box stores like Target, Sam's Club and K-Mart. You can also shop by cateogory or use the search feature to find a specific item. The app contains deals for a wide variety of items from electronics to dutch ovens to cashmere sweaters. You can create a favorites list too. The app is free on iTunes and Google Play.

Coupon Sherpa

Are you ever in a store, about to check out and wonder if there's a coupon for what you're buying? Coupon Sherpa is a great app for finding coupons by store and/or category. The free app for iOS and Android includes stores such as Best Buy, Bealls, Hobby Lobby, J Crew, Macy's, Mrs. Fields and many more. The app shows you the number of coupons available in each category -- like department stores (25 coupons), electronics (8 coupons), restaurant (52 coupons) and Travel & Luggage (6 coupons).

Buy Via

Buy Via is a free app for iOS that admits it's similar to The Find and RedLaser but, according to its developers, what sets it apart is "our expert picked tech deals, local offers and coupons, and product recommendations that are constantly updated." Launched on Nov. 13, the shopping app bridges in-store, online and geo-local deals across smartphones, tablets and laptops.

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